National Post editorial board: For the good of Toronto, Rob Ford must step down

Three years ago, a member of the National Post‘s editorial board asked Rob Ford, then a candidate for mayor of Toronto, whether there were more embarrassing revelations about his personal life that were yet to be publicized. Mr. Ford, predictably, said no.

Mayor Rob Ford came out of his office Thursday afternoon and said he saw he no reason to resign, hours after Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said investigators have recovered a digital video file that depicts Ford and is “consistent with what had been previously described in various media reports.”

Ford said he could not comment on Blair’s announcement because the matter is before the courts.

“I think everybody has seen the allegations against me today. I wish I could come out and defend myself, unfortunately I can’t, ’cause it’s before the court and that’s all I can say right now,” Ford said. “I have no reason to resign, I’m going to go back and return my phone calls, gonna be out doing what the people elected me to do and that’s save taxpayers money and run a great government.”

Like many others, we were eager to look past his personal quirks because we were interested in the so-called “Ford Agenda” — a slate of policies that included the contracting out of non-essential public services, minimizing tax increases or freezing taxes entirely, and halting the constant rise in city spending. That was an agenda worth supporting, and still is. But the agenda must be bigger than one man.

Mayor Rob Ford has not, as his supporters had hoped, kept his personal life free of embarrassing incidents. Though we believe a public official has a right to a private life, even a complicated or troubled one, serious questions suggesting Mr. Ford’s possible involvement in criminal behaviour can no longer be dismissed on this basis. Pending a resolution to this latest crisis in Mr. Ford’s private affairs, he should step down from his duties as mayor of Canada’s largest city.

Earlier this week, a judge authorized the publication of a modestly redacted version of a Toronto Police affidavit concerning Mr. Ford’s friend and occasional driver, Alexander Lisi. It became clear that police surveillance of Mr. Lisi, who has a criminal record for threatening and assaulting a woman and was recently arrested for possession and distribution of drugs, had turned up many connections between Mr. Lisi and Mr. Ford. These connections include hundreds of telephone contacts and numerous meetings, witnessed and recorded by police, that appear to show Mr. Lisi and Mr. Ford surreptitiously exchanging packages.

Later on Thursday, Toronto Police Service Chief Bill Blair told reporters that the “crack video” is real, and that the police have it in their possession. This video, whose existence was first reported by the Toronto Star and U.S.-based website Gawker in May, purports to show Mr. Ford, in an apparent state of impairment, inhaling from a glass pipe of the type used to smoke crack cocaine. The men who were attempting to find a buyer for the video, who were allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade, explicitly told the Star and Gawker that the substance being smoked was indeed crack cocaine.

Mr. Ford denied that any such video existed. But according to Chief Blair, the video was swept up during police raids focused on illegal activity in Toronto — activities that include the possession and distribution of drugs, illegal possession of firearms and acts of violence, and even murder. Toronto’s Mayor is now linked, albeit indirectly, to these investigations. The Mayor also has been proven, not for the first time, to have lied to the people of Toronto.

Chief Blair told the media on Thursday that nothing contained in the video supported arresting and charging Mr. Ford with any crime. And it is entirely plausible that Mr. Ford, whatever his personal behaviour, may never be charged.

But it is clear that Mr. Ford’s personal life is now so thoroughly beset by crisis that the people of Toronto cannot count on him to fairly represent them and to give his duties the time and consideration they require. Mr. Ford must step down until this matter is fully resolved. Toronto cannot be led by a man under active police scrutiny for his admitted connections to criminals, and his alleged connection to criminal activities.

It is hoped that Mr. Ford, once he steps down, will turn his full attention to addressing what seems to be a pattern of reckless behaviour in his personal life — a pattern more lurid than even Mr. Ford’s most intense detractors might have predicted in 2010. For his sake and that of his family, we hope he succeeds in this rehabilitation project. But the business of Toronto must go on, and the next municipal election remains a year away. We would therefore encourage those members of City Council who continue to support Mr. Ford’s agenda to now consider how best to ensure that the current sad state of affairs does not derail the good work that Mr. Ford started, but is no longer fit to finish.